Still Fighting
by Friendtopies
Summary: Right after the Ninja defeat Lord Garmadon's evil ninja. What will happen when Nya becomes Lord Garmadon's next target? JayxNya. Changed rating to T just in case. No cussing or anything like that, I'm just a bit paranoid.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys, this is my first fic, and I hope you guys like it. I know the first chapter is kinda short, but I'm going to try and make them longer as I keep going with the story.**

(Jay POV)

"And we totally, like, kicked butt!" Lloyd exclaimed, triumphant about his first real victory with the gang and me.

I couldn't help but smile as I listened to the slightly dramatized version of our fight with the evil ninja. Actually, it was a bit unnerving to fight yourself. Especially when you find out that the stupid evil you had kissed the love of your life before you had.

Suddenly, my smile was replaced by a scowl as the thought of that evil jerk kissing MY Nya ran through my head. Needless to say, it got to me. I stole a glance to see how Nya was reacting to the whole ordeal, only to find a slight blush dusted across her cheeks. My scowl soon turned into a dreamy smile, though, because with Nya around, it was pretty much impossible to be mad. She looked so beautiful standing there, her perfect figure leaning against the wall of our small apartment. I couldn't help but give a happy sigh.

"It seems as though Lord Garmadon will not take his last defeat too lightly," observed Sensei, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"No kidding. There's no way that guy was supposed to be," Added Cole. "I'm _way_ better looking than that ninja."

"That doesn't matter right now," Kai stated while rolling his eyes. "We need to put an end to these attacks before they put others in danger." At this point, he couldn't help but look over at his sister nervously. "We need to get back to training Lloyd."

"Agreed" Zane contributed. "The sooner, the better."

They all turned and looked at me expectantly. Not sure what they were staring at, I looked behind me to see if someone had snuck up behind me and gained all of their attention.

"What?" I asked, a bit confused at their staring.

"Well, aren't you gonna say anything?" Asked Cole.

"Yeah you always have something to say." Agreed Kai.

I scratched the back of my head and laughed nervously. "Um… Let's.. go get 'em?" I replied, too busy in my thoughts from before to really think of anything else.

They all stared at me, unsatisfied until Kai shrugged and began walking away to get some stuff together to train Lloyd. The others followed suit, preparing to help Lloyd help Lloyd. I was about to start helping until Sensei stuck his cane in front of me with a raised eyebrow.

"What?" I asked, not quite sure what was about to happen.

"Could you come outside for a word, please?" Inquired Sensei. I shrugged and followed him outside, but not before stealing one last glance at Nya, who seemed to be deep in thought.

**Hope you guys enjoyed it, and can't wait to keep posting! Have a good weekend!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey guys! Another chapter coming at ya! Just so you guys know, this is right after the episode where Evil Jay grabbed and dipped Nya into a full blown make out kiss. Oh, and I forgot to mention last chapter, I own nothing of Ninjago! Definitely not mine. **

(Normal POV)

Sensei walked out of the small apartment, the sounds of training and encouragement fading behind him as he walked further out the door. Jay followed suit, and watched as the night seemed to reflect off of his master. Sensei's snow white beard grew brighter as the moon's glow and the city's lights shown off of it like a beacon, leading Jay to him.

"Jay," Sensei started, "I couldn't help but notice your… unusual silence tonight."

Jay sighed, knowing one way or another, he was going to have to get his evil twin's angering act off of his chest. Honestly, the nerve of that guy!

"Well," Jay began nervously," I found out that my evil twin, the one Garmadon created, did something to Nya that, uh, doesn't totally sit right with me."

Sensei raised an old hand to stoke his beard. Actually, now that Jay thought about it, he couldn't remember a time that Sensei's beard had been grey. Of course it wasn't always white, but for an older guy like Sensei, Jay couldn't help but think that his beard would at least have _some_ grey strands.

"Perhaps," Sensei began, snapping Jay out of his train of thought, "it would be best if you addressed the issue with Nya, it could very well clear up some of the confusion going on between you two."

Jay smiled appreciatively. "Thanks Sensei."

"Any time, Jay," Sensei smiled in return, "Any time."

With that, Jay ran inside to help train Lloyd and to try and get close enough to Nya so they could have a conversation about earlier.

Sensei turned his gaze to the stars, and smiled as they twinkled in the night sky, somehow still shining through the city lights.

(With the others)

Jay grinned as he walked inside to hear the sounds of his friends bickering as to how they should train Lloyd. He glanced over to the edge of the group to see Nya, her perfectly shaded lips faintly turned upright into a small smile, and her jet black hair pulled behind her ears so that Jay could get a perfect view of her wonderful face. The view of her took his breath away, and his palms suddenly began to get a little sweaty. She glanced over to see Jay staring at her, then quickly glanced away to look at the ground, a slight blush spread across her cheeks. After the little scene evil Jay had put on, she was embarrassed that she had so easily been manipulated by him.

"We should give him a good body workout, so he can build some good muscle!" exclaimed Cole.

"No way! He needs to learn how to see how an actual fight could play out, so he can always expect the unexpected!" Argued Kai, hands crossed in front of him.

"Quite the contrary," Zane replied. "He should go through some rigorous mental training, so his enemy can never get the better of him!"

Jay rolled his eyes. The guys never could seem to agree on anything. Though they were tight and always there for each other, that didn't mean that they couldn't get into arguments. Honestly, sometimes, the ninja purposely tried to annoy each other, just so they could have something to talk about.

"Guys, we've been training the stuff out of this kid since we got here. Maybe it would be best to give him a break, so his mind doesn't go on overload." Jay suggested.

The others looked at each other, not quite sure, but finally gave in, putting all of the equipment back in their original places. Lloyd did a little fist pump and gave a smile in Jay's direction for giving him the much needed break.

"Where did Sensei go?" Asked Nya, speaking for the first time since the ninja had come back from the battle at Darkley's School for Bad Boys. Jay stared at her, a bit surprised, but quickly answered, not wanting to freak Nya back into silence.

"He just went outside for some thinking." Jay looked up at her and smiled, hoping to get her happy and unconfused again.

"Oh," was the only reply he got.

"Come on guys! I still have some leftover cake from the celebration. Let's eat!" Cole exclaimed excitedly.

"As long as it isn't one of your cooking creations, I'm game." Kia replied smartly.

"Agreed, I would indeed enjoy consuming some delicious cake not made by Cole." Zane said, oblivious to the death stare Cole was sending his way.

The group gathered around the cake, all problems of the night suddenly faded away into the backround as the sounds of happiness and family consumed the bright room. All was right with the world, for now, of course.

(Somewhere in the seas of Ninjago)

"What do we do now?" Exclaimed a snake from the middle of the crowd of his brothers, whispering among themselves about their latest failure.

"We need to find what pushes the ninja to keep protecting, to keep getting better. We need to find what's close to them, and rip it from their grasp. We need to find what saves them in their time of need." Growled Lord Garmadon, still trying to pry ideas out of his near useless crew.

"Wait!" One particularly brave snake cried. "When we have faced the ninja before, a big mechanical robot stopped and saved them right before we would have defeated them!"

"What! Why wasn't I informed about this before?!" The lord shouted angrily.

The snake shrugged, "Actually, when we captured it before, we found that it was one of the ninja's date."

"Really?" Questioned a suddenly interested Garmadon. "Well, that might be just what we need to rip away from the ninja get rid of the them once and for all."

**Hope you guys like this one. I tried to make it a little longer than last you guys sooo much for the reviews. You guys are totally awseome! See you guys next time!**


	3. Chapter 3

**You guys are too cool! Thanks soooo much for the support! Another chapter coming your way!**

(Jay POV)

"AHHHHHHHHH!"

I woke up screaming and sweating, the nightmare still playing in my head. In my devastatingly terrible dream, Lord Garmadon had captured Nya, and all night long all I could hear were her cries and shouts of pain. I should have been able to stop it, but all of my muscles just froze up, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't save Nya from his evil grasp.

I was jarred out of my deep thinking by a couple of voices coming from right outside the room. I quietly and quickly made my way over to the slightly opened door and pressed my ear to it so I could decipher the whispering.

"Of course I like you more, who can stand good guys?" Wait, was the Nya's voice? Who the heck was she talking about, and the bigger question, who was she talking to?

"Yeah, being the bad boy is pretty cool when you get all the girls." Stated a cocky voice that sounded strangely familiar, but with an evil twist thread through it to make it sound different.

I could feel the heat run to my face as I started to get angry. Who did this guy think he was, acting so nonchalant in front of the most beautiful girl in the world? More importantly, what the heck did Nya see in this guy?

"I don't know if I should be going this, I mean, I kinda have a boyfriend…" Nya stated nervously. I nodded my head in agreement. Take that, dude.

"Well, come here babe, I'll make all of your troubles disappear." The guy said, and suddenly I heard rustling and a yelp that sounded like it was coming from Nya.

"NYA!" I cried, whipping around the corner to tackle this guy who apparently thought _I have a boyfriend_ meant _hey, let's make out_.

What I saw next, though, stopped me right in my tracks. Not only was the jerk putting his undeserving, gross lips on Nya's, when he turned around, I found that he was none other than the guy who was about to tackle him, me.

"You again!" he snarled and made his way toward me." I thought I got rid of you a long time ago!" He then wound his arm back, and right before his fist would have landed on my face, I woke up screaming.

I looked around the room with wide eyes. _Wait, it was all a dream!_ What the heck was wrong with me?! I needed to talk to Nya about this before I went absolutely crazy.

"What the heck dude?" I heard Kai mutter as he brought his head out from under his pillow so he could give me a death glare. "It's, like, 3 in the morning, isn't it a little bit early to work on your horror-movie-woman-scream?"

"No time," I said quickly, ignoring his last statement. "Where's Nya, I have to talk to her."

"Ugh, she's out at the auto shop, she's working the early shift so she can help train Lloyd later." He grumbled, already falling back asleep.

"Thanks Kai." I whispered as I threw on a blue t-shirt, blue jeans, and a blue hoodie and ran out the door.

(Nya's POV)

I yawned, exhausted from coming to the shop so early, but then again, there's nothing like fixing cars and building equipment for the ninja to start your day off right.

I quickly got to work on one of the trucks that had been brought in. Something was caught in the exhaust pipe, or something like that; my mind was still foggy from the early rising, so I just stopped thinking and started examining the truck.

Soon, my mind started drifting to what had taken place earlier in the shop, and I couldn't help but get annoyed with myself to have fallen victim to one of Garmadon's evil inventions. I turned on the radio and switched it to my favorite station and started jamming out with the lyrics, the music helping clear my head.

With my head clear and a smile on my face, I soon finished working on the truck's problem and began to dance along with the song that was playing. I laughed and began to sing the lyrics under my breath. I didn't even notice that the door had opened and a certain guy in blue walked in…


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey guys! I'm getting super excited! I'll try to keep posting as much as I can! Oh, and I don't own any ninjago stuff. That's my disclaimer.**

(Jay POV)

I walked into a scene that made me stop and stare. Nya was wearing a red tank top, one strap hanging precariously off of her shoulder and some blue jeans. Not only was she wearing something totally different (which I am definitely _not_ complaining about) but her face was totally worry-free and brilliantly bright. I sighed happily, mouth hanging open slightly, and listened as I heard her mutter some of the lyrics. She spun around, dancing along with the music, and laughed; my heart melted as I heard the most stunning noise I had ever heard.

For some reason, I was compelled to walk closer to her. Unfortunately I didn't even get two steps before I saw her eyes light up in alarm. She whipped around, her lovely, short, black hair swishing across her face as she brought her fist up, seconds away from punching my face in.

"AHHHHH!" I cried, then mentally face-palmed as I realized how very unmanly that high pitched yell sounded.

"Oh, Jay, it's you." Nya said, a bit flustered by my sudden appearance.

I nodded nervously, not quite sure who she thought I would have been.

"I wanted to talk to you about the whole 'evil twin thing' that went on the other day." I said, hoping the conversation wouldn't be too awkward and would go smoothly.

"Uhh… Ohhhh…" She said as she quickly turned down the music, her face turned away from me so I couldn't see her reaction.

"Um, when I was fighting, well, me, I, or evil I, said that he had… um …well…" So much for this going smoothly.

"I'm sorry I kissed you, Jay." Nya said. "Or, I guess, evil you. I should have known the difference between you two, even though you guys did look exactly the same, but he was being a jerk, and you're not a jerk and-"

"Nya!" I laughed, a bit surprised that _she_ was the one who was rambling, and not the other way around. She looked up at me nervously. "It's okay! No one would have been able to tell the difference between us. I just wanted to make sure that you were okay, and that evil me didn't make you uncomfortable at all, or I will totally bring evil me back to life, and then beat him up all over again and then" I started babbling like I usually do (now _this_ looks familiar), especially when I'm talking to Nya, but suddenly stopped as I felt two arms wrap around me.

I froze up and stopped talking all together. Nya was hugging me. _Nya was hugging me. _NYA WAS HUGGING ME! I was a bit confused by the sudden action, but my giddiness was overwhelming, and I found my arms wrap around her, too.

We had been sorta-kinda dating ever since that date at the amusement park, but it wasn't anything official. We never really went on any other dates, (thanks a lot, Serpentine) and we didn't exactly "display" much affection for each other, so this was a deeply appreciated surprise.

Suddenly, a little alarm went off in my head, courtesy of my many years of ninja training. I tightened my grip on Nya, lunged forward, and landed in the furthest corner of the shop, looking back over my shoulder to see the biggest boulder I've ever seen in the exact spot we had been just one second ago.

"Jay, wha- oh." Nya looked past my shoulder to see the deathly rock. There was complete silence as the rock had a staring contest with us, that was, until I felt a slight tug on my arms.

"Jay," Nya gasped. "can't breathe here." I looked down to see how tight I was holding her and quickly let go, blushing that I hadn't even noticed. I couldn't help it though, it just felt so natural.

She took a couple of deep breathes and then froze, looking toward the boulder.

"What is it?" I whispered, for some reason not wanting to break the creepy silence. She pointed towards the rock, and I swore I saw a glint of fang from the top of the giant grey rock. Suddenly, I heard a one of the most unpleasant sounds that made me shudder every time I heard it.

Rattling.


	5. Chapter 5

**Here comes another one guys! Super excited!**

**I do not own any Ninjago stuff. Not mine. That was my disclaimer.**

(Nya POV)

I watched in horror as the Serpentine, maybe about 50, slithered on the other side of the rock, all of their creepy, beady eyes staring directly at Jay and me.

Jay stood in front of me, a look of determination on his face as he held his arms out protectively. I realized, with a start, that he was trying to protect me. He wasn't going to let anything, or anyone, hurt me.

"Jay," I whispered as I tugged on his shoulder. "There's a motorcycle just on the other side of that rock." I pointed to the big lump of rock, where you could just barely make out the wheel of a bike's tire. Unfortunately for us, the Serpentine were blocking any means of escape. "If we can get to it, we can ride out of here; there's bound to be some people outside. The Serpentine won't be able to follow us without giving themselves away."

"Nya, I'm not really sure they care about giving themselves away." He muttered back, not taking his eyes away from the snakes, who were getting a little too close to us for my taste.

"You're right. I'll have to call the rest of the gang and tell them to meet us at Ninjago City's fountain. We'll be less outnumbered then."

"Okay," he replied, "how do we get paste these guys though?"

I smiled, "Leave that to me."

With that, I bent down to pick up a hammer that was lying around, raised my arm, and chucked the tool as hard as I could, aiming right for the unlucky snake that was in front of the whole pack.

"DUCK!" He screamed, while dropping to the floor. The others followed his lead, the ones in the back not being able to see what was really going on.

"GO!" I yelled and raced to the bike, Jay right on my heels. I threw him a helmet and jumped on the motorcycle, pulling my own helmet on my head. Jay hopped on the back, not quite sure what was about to happen.

I grinned. "Hold on tight."

"Wait, the door's not even open, how are we gonna- AHHHHHHHHHH!"

I had already started the bike and brought it up on its back tire right before we hit the door. The door smacked open and we sped out of the auto shop, me grinning madly at the adrenaline rush, and Jay screaming the whole way, his arms wound tightly around me.

(Jay POV)

I had never been so scared in my life. Never. I didn't realize I was still screaming until I had to take a huge breath to get all of my air back. I quickly shut up, hoping Nya didn't think I was a total wimp.

She laughed and looked back at me, "Are you okay there?"

I blushed and nodded. Looking back over my shoulder, I found, much to my despair, a giant gang of snakes following us on different kinds of cycles and trucks.

"What?" I cried. It wasn't fair how they always seemed to be one step ahead of us, knowing we would make it out of the shop and being prepared to chase us.

Nya looked back too, then gave an annoyed huff as she started pushing the motorcycle to go faster. We suddenly jerked to the right as a spark hit the road to the left of us.

"What the heck?!" I yelped. "Now they have weapons?" They held something that looked like a gun, only it was shooting rocks. I realized that it wasn't meant to hurt us, but to blow out the tires so we would have to stop and be captured. "Jeez, I hate snakes."

"Jay, take the wheel." Nya shouted so I could here over the wind that was whipping past us.

"WHAT?!" I squealed, sure she had lost it.

"Just trust me. I already called the rest of the ninja while you were screaming; now all we have to do is get to the fountain." Huh, I didn't even know she had gotten out her phone. I looked at her, still a bit unsure, but grabbed the wheel, my arms wrapping around her in order to reach in front of her. I trusted Nya with my life, and now was my chance to prove it.

I was still quite surprised when she turned around in the front seat of the bike, so she was facing me while still in my arms, and wrapped her legs around my torso so she could look back at the snakes without falling off. Actually, it was sort of like an awkward sitting down embrace. I blushed, despite what was going on, and just decided the best thing to do was go faster.

I felt her reach down to the side of the bike and pull something out. My curiosity peaked as I wondered what could be on this bike that could do us any good. My question was answered when I felt her throw something towards the snakes, and heard a deflating sound. I looked behind us for one second, then turned back around laughing. Nya had built in some pockets on the cycle to hold ninja stars, which she was throwing at the tires of the Serpentine's rides. Leave it to Nya to add something extremely cool to an already really cool thing. This girl was the coolest person in the world.

The fountain was in sight, and I could see three figures right in front of it, one clad in black, one in white, and the last one in red. I smiled and let myself be calmed down by the fact that we were now just a little less outnumbered. All seemed to be going good, until a rock was shot into our tire and I felt Nya's grip on me loosen, then disappear altogether. I heard a scream and Nya and I were thrown into the air.


	6. Chapter 6

**Yo guys! I don't own Ninjago, but it is totally awesome! Here's another chapter, comin your way!**

(Jay POV)

I yelped as I watched the ground rush up at my face. Right before I should've gotten a face full of cement, I rolled- summersault style- and stood up on my feet, immediately searching for Nya.

"Get off me!" I looked to my right to see Nya, who was struggling with three snakes. Two of them were trying to hold her down, while the third one held a syringe full of some kind of green liquid. I ran over to the small group, ready to punch the snakes' lights out for laying even a finger on my Nya, but was stopped in my tracks as the one holding the syringe flew backwards, thanks to Nya, landing in front of my friends, who didn't waste any time in getting down to business.

I smiled as I watched Nya take the other two snakes' heads and crash them together. I sighed happily. Was she great or what?

"I'll make you think twice." She muttered, still glaring at the two snakes passed out forms.

"Nya, are you okay?" I asked making sure she hadn't been hurt.

"Oh," she said, looking up at me surprised, as if she had forgotten any other people were around. "I'm fine Jay." I grinned back at her.

Her eyes moved to look past my shoulder, and her lips turned down into a frown. "Where's Lloyd? It's not like him to not show up to a fight."

I looked around, and then remembered what a deep sleeper Lloyd was, and how hard it was to get him up, especially at 4 in the morning. "I'm sure they just couldn't use up thirty minutes trying to get him up."

She nodded while punching a snake that had tried to sneak up on us. I heard the grunts of the rest of the ninja as they each had their own little battles.

"You think we can take them?" I asked while dropping down to sweep a Serpentine's feet out from under him. He landed hard.

Nya spun around me and stopped in mid-spin to land a wicked kick in one of the snake's side. She turned around to look at me, rolling her eyes as she punched a snake, who was coming up behind her, without even looking. "Is there ever even any doubt?" She asked with a hand on her hip.

"Yo! Lovebirds! Could you stop with the flirting and help out a little bit?" Cole called while punching a Serpentine in the gut.

"COLE!" I whined. I hated it when he embarrassed me in front of Nya, which was quite often, though he usually did it with the help of Kai. I felt my face heat up, like it almost always does when my feelings for Nya were made painfully obvious.

Nya giggled, making my face grow even redder, if that was even possible. Apparently, it was possible, because I looked like a tomato. Fortunately for me, I had my mask on, so my blushing didn't add to my growing embarrassment.

With that, I made myself focus on fighting off a few Serpentine who were slowly surrounding me. I didn't notice anything else, since I was in my totally awesome ninja zone. I ducked, punched, kicked, and chopped. One snake had gotten a knife from somewhere and had tried to impale me with it (Since when did the snakes get all of these weapons?) but I used my nunchaku* to block the overhead strike. I leaned back as he tried to swipe my neck and then dropped so I could sweep kicked his feet. I jumped so he wouldn't be able to do the same to me, and landed on his back, taking him out of the fight.

All was going well, until I heard a muffled cry coming from behind. I turned around just in time to see the snake with the vial before covering Nya's mouth with his hand and impale her neck with the syringe.

"NYA!" I shouted running over to the two. Needless to say, I was angry. I watched as the green stuff was emptied out into her.

The other ninja turned around to see what all of the commotion was about, and I realized that we were so used to working together as a group, we had forgotten to check Nya's progress in the fight. I mean, she didn't even have a weapon! Her ninja stars had scattered during our fall.

I ran up to the snake who still had his grimy little hands on her, and punched him in the face so hard, I think that both of his stupid fangs came out. I caught Nya just as she was about to fall.

"Nya?" I asked weakly. I didn't know if I would make it if she wasn't going to be all right.

She looked up at me, a little disoriented, then gave a small smile. "I'm okay. Just a little woozy is all."

The others had formed a circle around us, keeping the snakes away.

"Jay," Kai said urgently. "Is she okay? Do we need to get her to a hospital?"

"I'm fine guys." She stated. It might have even been a little bit believable if her words didn't slur together and her eyes were half closed.

"Something in my data base tells me that you are very much lying." Zane stated.

Suddenly, I couldn't see any more. Smoke was everywhere, and I started coughing along with the others. I heard the others grunt in pain, and soon there were Serpentine all over me. I felt Nya being ripped from my grasp.

"NYA! Where are you?!" I cried, feeling around my surroundings to try and find her. The only thing I found, though, was me being beaten to the ground by various scaly arms and legs.

"Guys," I heard her shout, though it was a bit hard to hear between her slurring and my getting beat up. "Put… homing device… robot! You'll get why laterrrrr…." And that was when I knew she was out; the green liquid had entered her bloodstream, and had knocked her out. She was defenseless now.

I fought back. They couldn't get away with her. They just couldn't, I wouldn't let them. I squinted through the fog and saw a large, dark shadow through the smoke, and instantly knew it was Destiny's Bound. "Nya!" I shouted, but was then promptly knocked out as something very hard hit the back of my head.

***Nunchaku is the correct term for nunchucks. **

**Hope you guys liked it. I'll post as soon as I can.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey guys, sorry I haven't updated in a while. I'm here now though!**

**Yo, I don't own Ninjago. That would be pretty cool though. :p**

(Nya POV)

My eyes fluttered open, albeit a bit groggily. I looked around, a sense of familiarity washing over me, though I definitely wasn't anywhere I had been in Ninjago City. Besides, I'm pretty sure that they don't tie people to beds in any part of the city. I struggled against my restraints, only to find that the metal chains were, actually, quite sharp where they pressed against me, cutting into my skin and clothes. All of my memories from the last battle suddenly exploded to the front of my mind, giving me a pretty bad headache. The dumb drug they had plunged into my blood stream slowed down any progress to regain some real strength.

Eyes widening, I suddenly wondered how the guys were doing. I could only hope they were doing okay; I wanted everyone to be alright. My mind started drifting to the ninja, and suddenly Jay's smiling face was in my mind, and a pain rang in my chest. I realized, with a start, that I was in my old room on Destiny's Bounty. That could only mean…

An evil laugh came from the slightly ajar door on the other side of my room.

"So glad to see you again." A dark voice rasped out.

(Jay POV)

I woke up with a splitting headache. Slowly raising myself up on my elbows to get a better view of the room, I looked around to see all of my friends suffering the same fate. We all looked at each other with blank faces, not remembering what had given us the throbbing pains in our skulls. Abruptly, everything rushed back to me like someone throwing a bucket of ice cold water on my face.

"NYA!" I cried, feverishly searching the room, hoping to find her hidden in the closet or somewhere like that. I continued to tear apart the apartment, blindly hoping to find her _somewhere._

Cole grabbed my arms, restraining me from ruining the rest of the building.

"Jay! You need to calm down! We're all worried about Nya, but panicking is _not _going to get her back!"

He spun me around to face the others, and I saw that Zane was also holding Kai down. In my blind panic, I hadn't noticed that Kai had been freaking out too.

"We have to find her!" He raged, trying to wriggle from Zane's grasp. "They're going to hurt her! What if they already ha-" Kai stopped talking, his last sentence starting to really sink into his, and my own, head. Suddenly, he started to shake, his face darkening into the most dangerous expression I have ever seen on him. "If they-"

"Kai! I'm sure they haven't hurt Nya!" Cole comforted, a worried expression crossing across his face. "The last thing Garmadon wants right now is enraged ninja on his butt."

"Y-ya. He's right." I started, trying to convince myself of Nya's safety. "Anyone would have to be crazy to mess with Nya. I mean, they mess with her, they mess with us, right?"

"I see you all have awoken." An elderly voice spoke.

"Sensei!" Cole and Zane yelped, immediately standing at attention, letting Kai and I fall to the floor.

"I understand that the Serpentine have gotten ahold of Nya." Sensei looked down with a look of despair I had never seen on the old man's features.

"Wait," a much younger voice cried out. We all turned to see Lloyd standing next to Sensei. He had a look of surprise written across his face. "Nya got captured?!"

I was starting to get tired of all of this talking. Nya was in peril here! We couldn't be having little conversations while Nya could be seconds away from danger. I decided to put my thoughts into words, but as I was opening my mouth to snap all of them into actions, a different voice came out.

"Nya is in danger here! Can we stop talking about nothing?!" Kai barked.

"Patience, Kai. We must not rush our search for Nya. Rushing means mistakes, and mistakes are something we cannot afford." Sensei said, an anxious expression making him look older than he ever had before.

"Wait," Zane started, raising his hand to get our attention. "Nya told us to attach a homing device to her Samurai X suit. That could be of some assistance to our hunt."

My eyes lit up at the remembrance of her last words. I quickly dug through our possessions, finally finding the homing device that Nya and I had been working on. Memories pushed their way to the front of my mind, fighting for dominance. A flash of light from when we went to the store to get the parts, her angelic laugh as I joked around with her, a strand of raven black hair hanging in front of her face as she bent down to work on the device, the cute way she always tilted her head a little bit to the side when she was in deep concentration.

I shook the images out of my head as I placed the homing device on her exo-suit. At least we were one step closer to finding her.

**Thank you all so much for the support. You guys are totally awesome! Stay amazing!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hey guys! Here's another chapter coming at ya! Oh, and I don't own Ninjago. **

(Nya POV)

I sighed, then winced as my bruised ribs screamed in protest. I tried to ignore the pain, though it was pretty bad. Lord Garmadon had told the Serpentine to do whatever it took to get information out of me about the ninja. Much to their dismay, though, nothing would come out of my mouth. Other than the occasional violent interrogations, they pretty much left me alone. They gave me food and clothes, and I was free to move around my room unless they felt I needed to be restrained.

Other than the cuts and bruises along my arms and legs, I was untouched. I wasn't quite sure what to do in my free time. I just hoped that my friends had put the homing device on my suit, and waited for the right time to use that to my advantage.

It had only been about three days since the attack, and I already missed everyone. The way Zane always spoke the obvious, the way Cole always had some sarcastic comment to contribute to our conversations, even the way Kai was always too overprotective over me. I especially missed how Jay would always know the cheesiest jokes to make everyone laugh. Oh, Jay. Soon I was beginning to think of his perfectly combed chestnut hair, his wonderful blue eyes, and the way he always seemed to have a smile on his face. I missed-

A knock on the door jarred me from my thoughts, and I watched as the door opened to reveal a jet black face, staring at me with a malicious smile. He held up a video camera and pointed it at my face.

"Time for your close up." He growled malevolently.

(Jay POV)

I paced the room, looking around nervously every five seconds. I desperately waited for some news on Nya, not being able to think of anything else. I glanced up to see Kai doing the same, but with violence practically radiating off of him.

Cole and Zane were both sitting down, Zane staring off into space, as if thinking about something, and Cole glaring at the ground, looking as if he was trying to burn holes in the floor. Lloyd was watching the punching bad swing back and forth, head in hand as he gazed, too depressed to do anything else.

Sensei was standing at the table we had set up, trying to collect all of the clues and data to find Nya. After watching us freak out and frantically try to make sense of all of the data, he had set us all down so we wouldn't hurt ourselves.

There was a loud beep coming from the little screen on the table, and everyone in the room jumped about a foot in the air. The small apartment had been so silent, that the tiny beep had sounded like a blaring siren.

Kai and I rushed over to the table, with Cole, Zane, and Lloyd not far behind.

"Dad?" Lloyd gasped, as we all saw Lord Garmadon on the miniscule screen, staring darkly up at us. Anger abruptly swelled up in my chest, threatening to choke me from the inside.

"What have you done to my sister?" Kai hissed, his voice dripping with so much venom, I was surprised that Garmadon hadn't somehow sizzled into nothingness from Kai's acidic sound.

"Your sister?" He asked, but then his face lit up with recognition. "Oh! So this girl isn't only the blue one's love interest, she is also _your_ sister."

They all turned to look at me, but I was so mad, the blush that crept up to my cheeks was only from anger. Mostly.

"Answer the question, Garmadon." Kai spit out his name as if it were poison on his tongue, which probably wasn't too far from the truth.

"Oh, other than a few cuts and scratches, she's fine." He grinned, an expression that reminded me of a lion about to eat his prey.

You could practically hear the gears clicking in our heads as what he said began to really sink in. I opened my mouth to begin screaming profanities at the monster, but, luckily for Lloyd's young ears, he interrupted.

"Would you like to see her?" He asked happily. Without waiting for a reply, he turned the camera so we could get a good view of Nya. My heart dropped at what I saw.

Nya was tied up in chains, bruises and cuts covering her arms. She was wearing an old blue t-shirt, and some blue sweats that hung on her waist. I soon realized that those were some of my old clothes that I had left on the ship. Even in the ragged clothes, and bruises and scratches scattered along her, she still looked amazing.

I think everyone can agree that I'm a pretty laid back guy, but when I saw Nya harmed, anger overwhelmed me, and the side of the table I had been gripping broke off. I stared at it for a second, but soon returned my fuming gaze back to the small screen.

My heart stopped when I saw her look up at the camera, eyes stricken with pain. As soon as she saw the camera facing her, though, her lips turned up into a small smile, though it looked a little struggled.

Suddenly, her features transformed into one of importance, and she quickly took the chance to speak up as all of our attention was on her.

"Guys, we're right outside Ninjago, on the west side. I saw one of their ma-"

"Shut up!" Garmadon shrieked, walking over to her. The camera turned off.

"NYA!" We all yelled, fearing for her safety.

"If he touches her…" Kai started furiously.

"Hey," Cole started. "Let's focus on the good thing. We know where Nya is now!"

"Correct." Zane added. "Now that we know where they are now, we should hurry before Lord Garmadon and the Serpentine move Destiny's Bounty and we lose our lead,"

One second was taken up as we all stared at each other, then ran outside, all of us jumping into the ninja tank.

_Hold on Nya. Just hold on._

**Oh no! Will the Ninja make it, or will Garmadon finally get his revenge? :o**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hey guys! I don't own Ninjago! Here's another chapter coming at ya! I might be changing the rating to T, just so I can have a little more freedom to write. It won't be anything too bad or anything. No cussing, I don't do that stuff.**

(Nya POV)

He walked up to me, and enraged look on his face as he raised his arm. A smacking sound resonated throughout the room, and a second later, a stinging sensation numbed the left side of my face. I turned to look back at him, totally flabbergasted. Garmadon had never made any violent moves towards me, and the sudden change surprised me.

I covered up my astonishment with a mocking grin. "Did I ruin your little plan?"

He growled menacingly, but then smiled back, freaking me out.

"Not at all, we'll be long gone before they get here. Then, they'll lose you forever."

"Not likely." I scoffed. "And then they'll all kick your butt for messing with me."

A worried expression flickered over his face, but was quickly replaced with a cocky air. "Say what you wish, _girl. _We're beginning to move right now."

I glared at him until he walked out. As soon as he did though, I let out an exhausted, pained breath. My body was sore and my face was filled with a smarting pain. I felt a steady trickle of blood run down the side of my face.

_Hurry guys._

(Jay POV)

We were almost to the far side of the city. The west boundary line was in site. Overhead, Lloyd flew on his megadragon.

"We're almost there guys!" He called down. "I can see the ship up ahead!"

My heart beat faster and my palms began to sweat. I felt so helpless, knowing the only thing I could do for Nya right now was hope.

Kai pushed the tank to go faster. I knew he and the others were just as anxious to get to Nya as I was. She was the person who really pushed us to get better, not that she trained us like Sensei did, but she was that one person who really kept us together. Nya was the glue that kept our family in one piece, the support system in the background that nobody really paid attention to. When we won a victory, she never got any praise from the fans. Even when she was the hero, dressed as Samurai X, she would leave right after she took care of the problems. Enthusiasts never admired her, not openly anyways.

I realized, with a twinge of guilt, that _we_ didn't appreciate her enough. She would tell us what a good job we were doing, and how greatly we had improved, though we didn't praise her enough on her achievements.

A small smile grew on my face as the flying vessel came into view. The tank practically flew across the ground as Kai got too eager to make it to his sister.

"Us dying in a high speed crash isn't going to help Nya, Kai!" Called Cole.

Kai didn't say anything. Honestly, he hadn't said anything since the video call made by Garmadon. No one had, actually.

Within seconds, we were under Destiny's Bounty. Kai pulled the lever, detaching the top of the tank from its wheels. We flew up to the ship, and the top door of our ride popped up, allowing Cole, Kai, and I to jump out, landing on three snakes. Zane stayed in the soaring tank in case we needed any back up.

"NINJA!" A serpentine shouted, preparing to attack. We weren't in the mood to go easy, though, and soon he was thrown overboard. The snakes looked over the side, back at us, and then back overboard. Half of them ran back inside, while the rest of the foolishly brave stayed to fight us, their hands raised tentatively in a fighting position.

We fought the snakes pretty easily, until some of them started coming out with swords. I rolled my eyes, annoyed. I wanted to get done with this quickly, so I could get to Nya to make sure she was okay. The Serpentine weren't making time go any faster by idiotically trying to fight against already ticked off ninja.

Soon, all of the Serpentine were either on the ground or thrown overboard. I went up to one of the snakes on the floor, and sat on him, holding his hands above his head so he couldn't escape. He looked up into my eyes stubbornly, keeping his mouth tightly shut.

"Where is she?" I asked slowly, making sure he could understand every word coming out of my furious mouth. The snake smiled up at me mischievously.

"Jusssst remember, Ninja," he started. "What you do to ussssss, we do to her, sssso you might want to rethink the posssition you put usssss in." He said, addressing the way I had pinned him down. I growled and raised my fist, ready to make him regret his choice of words. I looked up though, after I felt a hand rest on my raised fist. The hand was Kai's, and I watched as he took his own hand and punch through the wood of the ship's deck, right next to the snake's head. My red friend had a look of cold fury I had never seen in his eyes before.

"I believe," he hissed. "That my friend here asked you a question."

"Go through the door, go down the hall, take a right, and it's the first door on your left." The Serpentine quickly directed, shaken from Kai's intimidation.

"That's Nya's old room!" I exclaimed. Even as I said it I couldn't help but wonder how I had known that so quickly. I hastily jumped off the snake and speedily made my way to her room.

(Nya POV)

My eyelids flickered open as I heard the door creak. I had managed to escape my restraints and lie on the bed for a little while to catch up on some sleep before I could work on an escape plan. A figure walked through the door, though it was too dark inside of the room for me to be able to tell who it was. The silhouette didn't have enough arms to be Garmadon, so I immediately jumped to the conclusion that it was a snake.

I stood up so the snake wouldn't have any advantages over me, and then moved over to the furthest wall away from the Serpentine. I could tell that the snake was struggling to see in the dark, and when its face did look up at me, I was confused to see that its eyes didn't glow a shining red like the Serpentine's usually did.

It ran over to me, for some reason looking very excited, its arms open wide as if to hug me. My eyes widened at the nerve of the snake. How dare he make any move on me.

I raised my hand and plowed my fist right into the Serpentine's stomach. I was incredibly surprised, though, that my knuckles didn't scrape scales, but rather, cloth.

"Nya?" The figure squeaked, his voice going up an octave at the end of my name. I froze, and then worriedly looked at the figure again. I could barely make out the color of blue on him. Realization dawned on me; I would now that squeak anywhere.

"Jay?"

**Hey guys! Just so you know, I won't be able to post any new chapters from Monday, the 13****th****, for about 16 days. I'll be out, but I'll still try to get my hands on a computer to post. Don't expect much though. Sorry guys, but I hope you still like this chapter!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hey guys. I'm trying to make up for lost time for when I'm gone. Here's another chapter comin' at ya!**

(Jay POV)

Ugh. My stomach hurt. I wasn't totally sure if Nya had been in the room or not, but as soon as that fist had plowed into my stomach, there was no doubting it.

I clutched my stomach and wheezed. I made a mental note to never get on Nya's bad side.

"Jay?" Nya's voice entered into my head, numbing some of the pain. I stood up, though a bit slowly, and smiled at her.

"Jay!" She exclaimed, lunging at me and bringing me into a hug. I blushed and grinned down at her.

"I'm so glad we got to you before…" I stopped, not being able to finish the sentence. "Something… er… too drastic happened." She beamed up at me, taking my breath away, and grabbed my hand, pulling me towards the exit.

"Come on," she urged. "Before-"

The door slammed open, a black, four-armed figure standing in the opening.

"Leaving so soon?" Garmadon snarled at us. "I was so hoping you would stay with us a little while longer."

I pulled Nya behind me so he couldn't touch her. This guy wasn't going to harm her any more than he already had.

"I suggest you move before I have to move you myself." I growled at him. Anger welled up in my chest upon seeing his face. My Garmadon-loathing was cut short, though, as I felt Nya move behind me. It felt as though she was reaching for something, but I couldn't imagine what.

Lord Garmadon made his way inside the room, his weapon raised right at Nya and me as he began to concentrate on how to end us.

"Jay, when I say, you have to crouch down." Nya whispered in my ear.

"What?" I asked back, not knowing how that could be of any help.

"Just do it, okay?" Nya had done me no wrong in the past, so I shrugged and nodded. I tensed, though, as I saw an evil smile light up Garmadon's face. He raised his weapon, and I watched as it began to glow.

As the weapon shot, I heard Nya whisper, "Now."

I quickly crouched down, and immediately felt pressure on my back. I looked up to see Nya flip off of my back, right towards Garmadon. The blast from the weapon, which had created a metal bullet that would have gone right through both Nya and I, sailed harmlessly over my head, and right under Nya. I smiled as I saw Nya raise a sheet from off of her bed and wrap the dark lord up in it. _So that's what she was reaching for._

"Jay, come on!"

I ran towards her and grabbed her outstretched hand, both of us sprinting towards the deck to help our friends.

"It's about time!" Cole exclaimed.

"Nya!" Kai shouted happily while punching one of the last snakes out, the rest were either on the ground or had fled inside. "You're-" He stopped and looked her over, a dark look washing over his face. "Not okay."

I sucked in a sharp breath. Now that we were outside where it was brighter, I could see the wounds along Nya's arms, and a suspicious red mark across one of her cheeks. Her legs were still hidden from us, so we couldn't see the full extent of the damage.

"I should have choked the guy when I had the chance." I grumbled under my breath.

"It doesn't matter." She said quickly, pushing aside our worrying, "We have to get out of here before Garmadon comes back up."

"I'd like to see him so I could-"

"Kai! We don't have time!" She shouted exasperatedly, pushing us towards the edge of the ship. We looked over the side to see Zane waiting for us, the top already popped up so we could jump in. Kai and Cole jumped in first so they could help Nya get inside.

I grinned. "It's easy sailing from he-" I was cut off as four arms pushed me over the edge of the moving, ship. I screamed as I fell, way too high up to hit the ground and still survive.

(Nya POV)

"JAY!"

A hand grabbed me from behind, yanking me away from the side of the ship Jay had been pushed off of. Saying that I was angry was an understatement. I was absolutely furious.

I abruptly turned around and pulled away from Lord Garmadon's grasp. My fist caught his temple, disorienting him, and I ran towards the edge of the ship, seeing a blue dot fall further away. My body went on auto pilot as I stood on the side and dove off, cutting through the wind to make it to Jay.

The wind whipped past me, stinging my face as I picked up speed. Jay's screams filled my ears as I got closer and closer to him. I reached out and grabbed the back of his suit, turning him around so that we were facing each other.

"Nya?" He shouted, confused. He gasped and then, more hysterically yelled, "Nya!"

I smiled at him. "Hi."

"What do you think you're doing?!" He cried. "You were safe, we just saved you!"

"Jay, you really think I was just going to watch you fall? Besides," I grinned upon seeing a certain boy in green racing towards us on his dragon. "With me around, there's always a way to get out of sticky situations."

Jay gazed at me, not really sure what I was talking about, but slowly nodded. I reached up with one hand, my other being wrapped around Jay, and caught Lloyd's megadragon by the ankle as he flew above us.

"Woah!" Jay exclaimed, looking up at the scaly beast. "I forgot about you."

"Hey guys!" Lloyd happily shouted. "Didn't think you were gonna have that much fun without me, did ya?" He threw down a rope, giving Jay and me something to climb to the top with.

"It took you long enough." I joked.

"Um, guys," I heard Jay say frantically. "What's that?"

I turned to see what he was talking about, and found a huge ball of metal flying towards us.

It hit the dragon's wing, not enough to severely hurt it, but enough to take it down from the sky. Lloyd screamed and clung on to Jay and me, no longer able to control the megadragon. The three of us held onto each other tightly, staying as close as possible.

I looked up to see ocean blue eyes gazing intensely into mine, and I held the stare, the gorgeous blue color being the only thing to keep me calm as we plummeted to the ground.

**My last chapter for a while. :`( As soon as I can get a hold of a computer, I'll be posting, but that won't be for a while. I hope you guys liked this one though. What will happen to our heroes next? I have no idea! ;). Have a great summer guys. Until next time. **


	11. Chapter 11

**Hey guys! I know I haven't posted in a while. I'm so sorry! But here's another chapter.**

(Jay POV)

I struggled to open my eyes as I sat up. My whole body hurt and I was sore all over. I tried to recall what had happened, and it all came back to me like a punch in the gut.

"NYA!" I cried out as panic began to overwhelm me. All I remembered was free falling on top of Lloyd's dragon… Crud. That meant Lloyd, our one and only green ninja destined to defeat Garmadon, was missing too. I quickly scrambled to my feet to search for the both of them.

I took in my surroundings and sighed. It looked like I was in some kind of forest. The sun, which seemed to be setting, helped me see the green around me. Green, green, and more green. The shadows of the tall trees loomed over me.

A high pitched squeal escaped my throat without permission as I heard a moan to my right. I ran towards the noise and stopped when the sound ceased.

"Nya?" I called out. I prayed to every Ninjago god I knew, hoping that she was safe.

"Nooo…" A voice groaned.

I sprinted toward the noise again, the shadows falling across my path.

"Lloyd!" I shouted, surprised I was able to see him amidst the plants. I jogged over to where he was laying and helped him sit up.

"Where are we?" He asked rubbing his head and gazing at the forest around us.

"I have absolutely, positively… no idea." I responded. He looked at me, then the space next to me, then at me again.

"Wasn't Nya with us when we plummeted to the ground?" He questioned. I looked around worriedly, hoping that I would be able to see a flash of color that wasn't green. No such luck. The dragon, which had been next to Lloyd the whole time began to beat its wings, making the trees bend backwards from the force. It then roared out, a sound that almost broke my eardrums.

"Lloyd! What the heck? What's wrong with your dragon?!"

He opened his mouth to answer, but right before he could say anything, I heard the distinct sound of my name being called. My head snapped towards the direction. The dragon, once again, bellowed, making the ground shake. The call came again, a bit closer this time, but still too far away.

"Come on Lloyd. I have- I mean, _we _have to get to Nya." I tore through the leaves and plants towards the sound of Nya's beautiful voice, Lloyd not too far behind.

"Nya!" I shouted. "We're coming Nya!"

I ran, desperately looking for some hint that she was around. I began to panic until I collided with a force that knocked me over. Alarmed, I looked up and my breath stopped. Two big, dazzling brown eyes gazed back into my own. Nya lay on top of me, her gorgeous black hair falling over the right side of her face like a curtain. My heart beat accelerated and I could only hope that she wouldn't be able to hear it.

"Jay?" she whispered and rose into a sitting position, still on top of me. I could feel the heat rush to my cheeks as her angelic voice said my name. All I could do was nod as I gazed up at her, completely dazed and _completely _aware of the fact that she was now straddling me in an effort to see me better. A smile lit up her face, leaving me more dumbfounded, and she bent down to hug me. My heart, which had been breaking records with its speed, stopped.

"H-Hi" I stammered. I couldn't think through all of the emotions I was feeling. Her face was inches away from mine. She was so incredibly close to me, so close that our noses were touching. Everything was perfect, she was safe, I was safe, and she was so close that all I had to do was move my lips-

"Ahem! I'm standing right here you know." Lloyd's voice called out. We turned our heads in his direction, and Nya, realizing he had been standing there the whole time, shot up and off of me, dusting herself off while a stunning red began to bloom on her cheeks. She walked over to him and gave him a hug.

"I'm happy you're okay Lloyd." She said. Lloyd hugged back and I glared at him over her shoulder for ruining the completely perfect moment. He gave me a confused look, then shrugged.

"Well, now that we're all together, I can get us home." Nya declared happily.

"What do you mean? I have no idea where we are." I asked her, bemused.

"Neither do I, but I know a way we can get out of here and show the rest of the group we're okay." She rose her wrist and I saw her red bracelet. "You guys did put that tracking device on the Samurai X suit, right?" She asked.

I smiled. Was this girl brilliant or what?

"Yup, it's all ready for you."

"Wait," Lloyd said. "What are you guys talking about?"

"My suit will come to me when I press this button," she said indicating to the red button on her bracelet. "If the ninja aren't home to follow it, they can come after it when they do come home and the computer shows our location."

"Oh."

She looked down at her bracelet.

"Ready to see if our tracking device works?" She asked me, a nervous smile on her lips. I smiled back at her.

"Is there ever any doubt?" I asked with a playful grin.

We all watched as she pressed her bracelet.

"Now what?" Lloyd asked.

"Now," Nya began. "We wait."

**Hope you guys liked it! I'm sorry I haven't been posting, I'll be trying harder to start up again.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Hey guys! Here's another chapter coming at ya!**

(Jay POV)

"And… done." I rose from making my small fire, proud that I had been able to accomplish the small feat. Nya smiled at me, and the light from the fire made her skin glow brilliantly.

"So, why isn't the Samurai X suit here yet?" Lloyd asked, snuggling into his dragon's side.

"I have no idea where we are right now, so we could be pretty far right now. It could take a while for the suit to get here." Nya explained.

"I just hope it doesn't take too long." Lloyd stated, looking around the dark, ominous trees slowly. "This place gives me the creeps." There was a rumble deep in the woods, and I shivered.

"Well, you better get some sleep Lloyd." Nya said. "I have a feeling there will be a lot of questioning from the rest of the guys tomorrow."

Lloyd nodded and laid his head against the megadragon's side. Nya turned and looked at me expectantly. I quickly got nervous under her gaze.

"What?" I asked, unsure of what she was staring at me for.

"Well," she started. "Aren't you going to go to sleep?"

I gazed back at her, not believing that after everything she had just been through she was going to try and stay up to watch for any creatures that might be lurking in those creepy trees.

"No way." I shook my head. "You should go to sleep. I'll take first watch. You need sleep the most."

"Jay, I'm not going to throw that responsibility on you. I'm fine. I got plenty of sleep on the ship." She answered. I looked at her, unbelieving.

"You were able to sleep through all of that?" I asked. "They chained you to a bed and…" My voice died. I couldn't finish the rest of my sentence. I closed my eyes and clenched my jaw. All I could think about were the bruises scattered across her, and what I would do if I ever got my hands on Garmadon again.

I felt a touch as light and soft as a feather on the side of my face. I snapped my eyes open and was immediately looking into the most beautiful chocolate eyes on earth. The glow from the fire illuminated the orbs, giving me the privilege of seeing every detail. Her hand still rested on my face, and with her thumb she ever so softly stroked my cheek. I exhaled slowly, loving every movement and every touch.

"Jay," She whispered my name and my heart melted. "I'm fine. Really, I am. It wasn't that bad."

"You're lying." I whispered back, not believing any of it. "You just don't want me to worry." She smiled softly, trying to reassure me, but her eyes gave her away.

"It's not like I have scars." She tried.

"You have cuts." I said, carefully taking her hands in mine and lifting her arms to the firelight, where the small lines of red could be seen. She looked down at her arms and then back up at me, not giving up.

"They're scratches." She said dismissively, looking away from the warm light of the fire and into the cold dark of the night surrounding our small illuminated circle.

"You don't have to be brave for me, Nya. I know it _was_ that bad, I know you're still hurting. It doesn't make you weak when you feel pain. I mean, you're the strongest person I know, and the bravest." I brought her hands together, bringing them up to my mouth as I spoke, and then kissed them. I watched as her cheeks turned an alluring shade of pink and she looked down at the ground. I moved her hands to my shoulders and leaned in to hug her.

I wrapped my arms around her waist and lifted her up and into my lap. She tensed up for a second, obviously surprised by my sudden move, then leaned back, staring into my eyes. I gazed back at her, then smiled sadly. My heart broke as I watched her lower lip tremble and her eyes begin to water. She wrapped her arms around my shoulders and tucked her legs in so that she was fully on my lap and in my arms.

I held her tight against my chest and sat still as I felt her tears wet my shirt. She didn't make any noise or any movement, just held herself in my lap and let the tears go. I had never seen Nya cry, but I thought the tears would've come a lot sooner. It killed me that she was crying, but I knew she needed this. I laid my head on top of her shoulder and turned my face into her hair. I slowly inhaled, and the enticing aroma of raspberries and vanilla entered my nose. All I wanted was for this stunning angel to be happy again.

Soon, she pulled back, gazing at the ground.

"Nya?" I asked, ducking my head down trying to catch her eye. She moved her head to the side just in time to escape my gaze. She looked at the trees, the ground, the fire, anywhere but me. She looked, ashamed.

"I'm sorry." She whispered, moving to get out of my lap. I quickly tightened my hold on her, worrying I had done something wrong, and not wanting her to move out of my arms.

"Sorry for what?" I asked, not sure of why she looked so ashamed. She still didn't meet my gaze.

"You shouldn't have to make me feel better." She said looking down at her hands which were now in her lap. "I'm overreacting."

"What do you mean?" I asked flabbergasted. "You didn't do anything wrong! Overreacted? If it were me, I would be in a corner bawling my eyes out." There was a shadow of a smile on her face as I said that, but it quickly disappeared. "Nya, I _want_ to make you feel better. I _want_ to be the shoulder you cry on. I _want_ to be the one you come to when something's bothering you and I _want _to be the one who holds you tight."

She finally met my gaze with wide eyes. I reached up with my hand and wiped away a tear that was still running down her cheek. She stared into my eyes the whole time, searching for things I couldn't imagine. If she was looking for the truth in my words, then I knew that it wouldn't be too hard to find.

Suddenly, I had the irresistible urge to claim her lips with my own. I licked my lips, nervous, and leaned in while she gazed into my eyes. I leaned further in and the top of our foreheads met. I heard her breath hitch and I looked up to see her eyes gazing up at me through her eyelashes. The sight took my breath away, and the proximity was too much. I lifted my lips and softly pressed them against hers.

I brought my head back and stared at the ground. I looked up at Nya's face and quickly brought my gaze back down. Her eyes were closed and her eyebrows were furrowed. She was probably grossed out or something. I felt terrible that I had just done that in the middle of comforting her, I mean who wou-

My thoughts were suddenly interrupted as something soft pressed against my lips. I quickly opened my eyes to see that they were _her _lips. My heart started to beat faster as I kissed back. My senses burst. Her lips moved and I moved mine against hers. I saw fireworks behind my eyelids, and I realized for the first time that I had shut my eyes. I kept them shut and felt as she moved so that her chest was pressed up against mine and her legs were behind me on both sides.

My hands moved up from her waist to tangle in her hair and I felt her quickly exhale. Her hands were on my chest, and they began to slowly slide up. Her right hand stopped right over my heart, and I blushed as I knew she could surely feel it racing. She gently pulled her lips away, and I gazed at her, breathless. My heart stopped as I watched her chest rise and fall, crashing against mine with every breath she and I took. The stunning pink on her cheeks graced her features and she looked at me from under her long lashes.

"Nya," I gasped, still trying to get my breath back. "I need to tell you something." She stared into my eyes.

"What is it, Jay?" She breathed.

"I-"

A loud snap came from the trees and we both snapped our heads towards the direction.

"What was that?" Nya asked, searching the blackness of the trees to find the intruder.

"I'm not sure." I muttered back. Quickly, I moved her off of my lap and behind me. I heard her gasp and turned to see what was wrong. She was staring in Lloyd's direction and when I looked to see what she was looking at, I saw a figure looming over him.

"Lloyd!" Nya shouted and before I could stop her, she jumped up and ran towards Lloyd.

"Nya!" I cried, moving to run after her, but as soon as I stood up and took my first step, I fell. I looked down to see a rope around my ankle, and I quickly looked up to see Lloyd being tied up by another shadow and the first one fighting Nya. I desperately began to try untying to rope, but looked up just in time to see the man dodge Nya's kick, catch her leg, and punch her in the stomach, making her fall. Hard.

"Nya!" I shouted, red invading my vision. Anger overwhelmed me, and I stood up just before something hit my head and I blacked out.

**Hey guys. I know it's a long chapter, but I just couldn't stop writing! I hope you guys liked it, though. **


	13. Chapter 13

**Hey guys sorry it took a while to for me to post, but here I am with another chapter!**

(Jay POV)

I woke up with a splitting headache. Groaning, I rubbed my head and tried to remember what had happened. My eyes widened as I suddenly remembered. I panicked, wiping my head around to find Nya. Should _not_ have done that. My head throbbed. What was with people and hitting me with blunt objects! Soon, my head wouldn't be able to take all of this abuse.

A groan came from the corner, and, more slowly, I turned my head to see who it was coming from. To my delight, Nya and Lloyd were in the corner, leaning against the wall. I tried to make my over to them, but was stopped by a painful tug on my wrists. I looked down and saw a metal chain around my hands and attached to the wall behind me. _Jeez, these things hurt._

I looked back over and noticed Nya's eyelids beginning to flutter open, which let me see her breath-taking chocolate brown orbs. Relief washed over me and I began to try and wriggle my hands through the chains.

"Jay." Nya's voice softly floated over to me and I lifted my head to the melodious voice. Her eyes were on my wrists, looking as if they were trying to burn holes into the chains. "Don't struggle, it'll hurt you more."

"Nya, we have to get out of here." I responded, pulling my hands away from the wall. "Maybe if I can get my hands free, I can help you guys too." She looked over to her left to see Lloyd, and immediately rolled onto her knees (I swore when she did this she looked pained, but that might have been my imagination) and began looking at his arms and face. I watched as her tense shoulders relaxed a little, but not by much.

"He's alright. I mean, as far as I can tell." She announced, moving back over to lean against the wall her chains were attached to.

"Are _you_ alright?" I asked, looking her up and down for any damage. She gave a small, sad smile and nodded in reply.

"I'm fine, how about you?" She asked. I stared at her for a minute longer, still not fully convinced she was okay. The image of the shadow taking her down ran through my head, and I immediately began to get furious all over again.

"What is it?" Nya asked, looking concerned. As if she was the one who needed to be worried about me and not the other way around.

"Does your stomach hurt?" I questioned. I watched as she put on a carefully blank face and nodded.

"It feels the same." She cautiously answered. I stared at her, not understanding why she was lying.

"Why aren't you telling me the truth?" I asked, a little hurt that she was lying to me.

Bringing her knees to her chest, she bit her lip, and looked down, her short black hair falling over her face. After a little while, she looked up at me over her knees with a thoughtful expression on her face. My breath caught and my heart beat faster. Though I scolded myself for thinking it, she looked incredibly alluring in the dim light of the dungeon. After a minute, she crossed her legs so that she was sitting Indian style and raised her head decidedly.

"My stomach is fine." She said, sighing after, which led to her wincing. "What isn't fine is that my ribs are killing me and I'm pretty sure throughout this adventure I've bruised a couple ribs." So it wasn't my imagination. My already large anger doubled in size, and I could feel my eye twitching. Now I have two jerks to deal with. Two jerks who not only took Nya where she didn't want to go, but hurt her! TWO JERKS WHO-

"Jay!" I quickly glanced up at Nya to see her staring at me with a worried expression etched onto her features. "This is the reason I didn't want to be truthful. You're freaking out!"

"Nya, I should be freaking out! I am going to kick their-"

"Jay," Nya interrupted. "I can take care of myself. You don't need to worry about doing that." She smiled at me, but it wasn't a happy smile, it was forced.

"Listen," I said, needing her to hear me. "You can't handle everything alone. I mean, obviously you can't because the weird shadow guy got the better of you." I watched as she looked down into her lap, but not before I saw the look of hurt on her face. Guilt washed over me, but she had to listen. "You are one person, Nya. You can't always take care of yourself. One person can't do everything." I sighed. Did I really just say that? I couldn't believe I had just taken what had happened and shoved it in her face.

I stared down at the floor, not sure what would happen next. She had to hear that, of course. What if something too difficult came and she tried to handle it alone, thinking she could take it. I still didn't feel any less guilty telling her that, though.

A metal sound made its way over to me, and I quickly snapped my head up. Nya had her back facing toward me, both feet on either side of the chain on the wall, and she was pulling. I watched in amazement as after about three minutes of nonstop pulling, the concrete holding onto the chain began to crack with every tug and jerk from Nya. Lloyd yelled, and shot up from his sitting position, eyes large and wild. Nya relaxed for a moment, not moving from her position, and asked him if he was feeling alright. He stared strangely at Nya's pose pulling against the wall, and then nodded.

"What are you doing?" He asked, looking at her and then the wall.

"Taking care of it." Came Nya's answer, and I felt my blood go straight to my cheeks while I looked down in shame. Lloyd shot me a questioning glance.

"Oh. Okay." He said, still sounding very unsure. After another five minutes, a crack was heard, and when I looked over in Nya's direction, she was standing up with both hands on her hips, a hole in the wall behind her, and the chain off to the side. My mouth hung open. She looked me in the eye pointedly and began working on Lloyd's chains. I snapped my mouth shut, my face getting redder, if that was possible.

"Wow Nya!" Lloyd exclaimed. "I never knew you were that strong!"

"Apparently, neither did other people." She mumbled. "Now help me with pulling this chain."

Together, they pulled the chain out in about half of the time. Right after, as Lloyd was rubbing his wrists and staring off into space, Nya walked over to me. She bent down, avoiding eye contact, and grabbed the metal.

"Nya, how did you do that?" I asked, unsure that she would even answer. She turned her head to face me and gazed at me. I looked down, not being able to look her in the eye. I tensed as I felt her kneel down next to me, afraid she was going to tell me off or something.

"Don't feel bad Jay." She said, putting her hand on my shoulder and surprising me. "You were just telling me that to keep me safe, I understand." It was my turn to gaze at her. "I get too sure of myself sometimes. I just want to be able to handle stuff like you and the guys." She finished, staring at the chain.

"Are you kidding me? Do you know how many times you have had to save our butts?" I asked. "I was wrong. If anything, we're the ones who can't take care of ourselves." I was rewarded with a small giggle which instantly made me sigh dreamily.

"Come on." She said, holding the chain up. "Help me take care of this." I smiled and helped pull. The wall cracked open, releasing the chain, and we both fell, landing right next to each other. I chuckled and turned my head to look at her. She was still laughing when she turned her head towards me. Her hair spread around her head on the floor, and we gazed into each other's eyes. Last night's feelings and sensations rushed back to me, and I wanted nothing more than to taste her lips again, to share her breath again. A shiver ran down my back and I licked my lips in anticipation.

"Yo!" A voice blatantly yelled behind us. "Aren't we trying to make an escape here?" Nya immediately returned to the present and hopped up giving an awkward smile to Lloyd. I gave a small groan and brought myself up too. I glanced at Nya and got the privilege of seeing the beautiful pink dance across her cheeks.

"Let's go." She announced and began to move over to the door, her hips swaying with every step she took. I shook my head to clear it and followed Nya to the door, which was open, probably because the people who locked us up didn't expect the chains to be ripped off of the walls by the most gorgeous girl in the world. I stepped outside of the doorway, but not before pushing Lloyd into the doorframe as a "thanks" for interrupting my moment with Nya.

"Hey!" A whispered yell came from behind me. I cracked a smile and kept walking but not before hearing the final mumble. "What'd I do?"

**Hope you guys liked it. I was pretty busy this week, but I finally managed to take some time out. See you guys!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Hey, guys. I'm sorry I haven't posted in over a week, but I've been going crazy with writers block! I'm here now, though, and I am ready to partay. Or write, which ever.**

(Jay POV)

I took long strides to catch up with Nya, Lloyd scurrying along beside me. Cautiously, Nya peeked around the corner, and I couldn't help but grow worried at the amount of effort it took her. Now that I knew more about her injuries, I noticed her struggle in everything she did. She raised her hand and motioned for us to walk around the corner. Stealthily, we made our way down the strange, dirt halls, pressing our backs against them, traveling in the shadows.

I glanced up and searched the ceilings for any type of surveillance cameras. I saw a couple of holes in the dirt ceiling that didn't seem to serve a purpose, but other than that, there was nothing but dirt.

Nya stopped so abruptly, that I nearly plowed right into her. I felt a slight push against my back and heard a grunt. I looked behind me to find Lloyd sprawled out on the floor. I raised my eyebrow questioningly at him.

"I didn't see you stop." He whispered, shrugging.

"What is it?" I whispered into Nya's ear. She looked up at me with a bemused expression.

"Do you think that we're underground?" She asked, her eyes looking over the walls. I followed her gaze, and nodded. Nya's lips pursed together, and an unsure expression danced across her beautiful features.

"What is it?" I inquired quietly, wanting to pummel whatever was making her uneasy.

"I… I just have a strange feeling." She answered. I gave her a curious look, wanting her to expand on the subject. She opened her mouth to continue, but a sudden, blaring alarm went off above us, seemingly from the rectangular gaps. We covered our ears with our palms, elbows sticking out. _So those holes do have a purpose._

"What do we do?!" Lloyd shrieked, panic evident on his face. I knew I wasn't too far from obtaining the same expression.

"RUN!" I shouted, and with that, the three of us sprinted down the halls, any and all forms of stealth thrown to the wind.

We ran left and right, none of us having the slightest clue of where we were going. It was at a large, ceremonial room where we finally stopped running, gasping for breath with our hands on our knees. I heard Nya give a painful gasp, and I was immediately by her side, helping her straighten up.

"What… the heck… was that?" I managed to wheeze out in between gasps.

"That, my friend, was our alarm system." Came a loud, slick voice. We whipped around to face a tall, dark, muscular man. My eyes grew wide as my mind took in the sight.

The guy was like, at least six feet tall, and was all muscle. He had piercing, light green eyes that stared right back at the three of us. His cheek bones were high, and his lips had a large sneer on them. The only article of clothing he had on were a pair of ragged, brown shorts that came down to his knees. Markings and tattoos decorated his dark brown skin. The best word to describe him would have to be exotic.

"Who are you, and why the heck were in a sitting in a dungeon like prisoners?" Nya asked angrily. I couldn't help but smile at her forwardness. The smile was short-lived, however, when I noticed the way the weirdo's hungry eyes were gazing lustfully at Nya. I casually moved my body slightly in front of hers in attempt to hide her from his wandering stare, glaring at him in the process. He glanced up at me and grinned, wide and creepy.

"I," He said, stepping forward and placing a hand on his chest as if he was the most important thing in the world, "am Coozoh." I couldn't help but snort at the ridiculous name. I mean, really. Who were his parents and why did they hate him so much? "My tribe found you and brought you back here to safety." He continued.

"Oh, really? Because what I remember is being ambushed in the dark and then chained to a wall." I said, raising my eyebrow at him. He glanced at me and narrowed his eyes before continuing.

"My people noticed that you had sustained injury in your travels before, and we were only keeping you attached to the wall so you would not be frightened and run away. We were hoping to help treat your wounds, friends." Though the way he said it, I doubted very much that he wanted to be my friend. I opened my mouth to retort, but was cut off by Nya.

"As I remember, this tribe that you speak of only made my injuries worse. And do you seriously believe waking up chained to a wall isn't frightening? Of course we would run!" Nya ranted, her hands planted firmly on her hips. She was giving him an angry glare that, if possible, was worse than Kai's. It must run in the family.

While I was busy trying to understand how the guy hadn't melted into a puddle of nothing from the heat of the glare, he smirked and stepped closer. I didn't like how close he was getting, and though he was still about seven feet away, I moved my body further in front of Nya's, reaching to grab Lloyd and pull him closer to us.

"You see," he grinned. What was it with this guy and the creepy grinning? "We are a people who try and help others. We bring them down to our subterranean village and show them the light. I, of course, am the prince of this tribe."

"Oh, of course." I repeated, rolling my eyes. He glanced at me, obviously annoyed.

"We found you poor souls lost in the forest, and brought you back with us. You see," He began making his way closer to us. "We have been searching for some new members. It has been quite a while since my tribe has seen a beautiful woman such as yourself." Coozoh looked pointedly at Nya. "I-_we_ could make much use out of you."

Rage began to swell in my chest. I could feel Nya tense behind me, and I had to wonder what was going on through her head. I met Coozoh's eyes with a fierce gaze. Anger boiled in my stomach, and I felt it go to my throat, choking me, waiting to be vocalized. I took a step forward. He was close enough now that that one step put me directly in his face. Now, of course, this guy was much taller than me, but at that moment that didn't matter to me. All that mattered was that I was going to take him down.

Right before I could raise a finger (Or, preferably, a fist) I felt a hand land on my back gently, right between my shoulder blades.

"What an incredibly inappropriate thing to say, Coozoh." Nya's voice held a cold fury behind it, something I had never heard come from her sweet lips. The hand on my back slid across one shoulder and landed on my left forearm. "Fortunately for us, we actually have lives to get back to, so why don't you just tell us the way out of here and we'll be on our way." The creepy Cheshire cat grin on Coozoh's face faltered. A surge of satisfaction surged through me.

I stepped away from Coozoh and looked to my left to see Nya, who had her arm left arm draped over Lloyd's shoulders protectively, glaring at the strange guy. She still had her right hand on my forearm, and she began to pull both Lloyd and I around Coozoh. I smiled, I loved how direct Nya could be, and how she wouldn't let people get the better of her.

However, Coozoh stepped in front of us.

"You see, dear Nya," I froze. How did he know her name? "When we find new members, especially ones as interesting yourselves, we intend on keeping them."

I felt Nya's grip on my arm tighten, and I was pulled closer to her. I looked around to see what had alarmed her, only to find a large group of people, who definitely weren't there before, surrounding us. I knew what was happening even before I saw the eerie smirk find itself back on Coozoh's face. We were trapped, and this man and his tribe were going to make sure it stayed that way.

**So here's the chapter guys! Another long one. I'm super excited for this story. I hope you guys enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!**

**Oh, and by the way, Coozoh (I know weird name) sounds like Zoo, and then toe. Zootoe, Coozoh. **


	15. Chapter 15

**Hey guys. Ahhh! I know I haven't updated in a while, but I'm here now! I was looking over the reviews, and I almost died! You people are truly amazing. Thank you sooooo much for all of the support; you are the reason I write! You guys are an inspiration to me, and the thing that makes me get off of my behind, pick up my computer and update this story. I wasn't sure if I could do it before, but you all have renewed my confidence. THANK YOU! **

**Here's another chapter, comin' at ya!**

(Jay POV)

I pushed Nya and Lloyd behind me, doing everything I could to protect them. Nya had moved Lloyd so that he was in between us and was safest from the strange people.

"What is it that you want?" Nya demanded, her voice cold and steely. Coozoh only smirked and came closer to the three of us.

"You see, dear Nya," I narrowed my eyes at the way he said her name. "I have heard much about you and the ninja. News of your noble acts has reached out to the ends of Ninjago. Everyone knows _of_ you, but I want to _know_ you." He was close now, and though he tried to step around me towards Nya, I blocked the way with my body. He snarled down at me, but backed up.

"Dude," Lloyd murmured from his sandwiched spot between Nya and I. "You are one creepy guy." Coozoh lunged out to grab Lloyd, but he ended up on his back. I stared down at my hands. _Did I do that?_

"You will _never_ touch him." Nya growled, towering above Coozoh. I blinked, and then grinned. Was this girl kick-butt or what? My grin quickly ran away as Coozoh's eyes stared hungrily up at Nya. He slowly stood up and sneered down at Nya. She held her ground, however, and their faces were inches apart, his filled with some kind of sick pleasure, and hers an icy rage. My face contorted with anger as I watched Coozoh stand so close to her that their chests were touching.

"Nya." I choked out, not trusting my voice which was filled with fury. I gently grabbed her hand from behind and pulled her towards me, not taking my eyes off of the dark man's gleeful face. Nya, who had kept her glare on Coozoh, hesitantly stepped back, swerving her gaze towards me, a small, forced smile on her face. She stared into my eyes for a minute, and I couldn't help but wonder what she was thinking. She walked the rest of the way towards us and stood next to me, her hand still grasping mine.

I tore my eyes away from her and went back to watching Coozoh again. He was staring at our intertwined hands with wide eyes, and I couldn't help but feel smug as I gripped her hand a bit tighter. His gaze moved towards my face, then Nya's, and then my face again.

"You," he said pointing at Nya. "and YOU?" He finished, his voice filled with disgust as he pointed towards me. "Well, that is quite surprising. What do you see in him?" He demanded.

"A whole heck of a lot more than I could ever see in you." Nya shot back, head held high. I grinned and looked down at her. Though the guy was sick and creepy, he definitely wasn't bad looking. It made me wonder what Nya really did see in me. That didn't matter right now though, because, apparently, she did see _something_.

The man narrowed his eyes. "We shall see." He whispered, staring at me with eyes full of hate. His composure suddenly changed as he put on a happy grin and snapped his fingers. Suddenly, there were spears at our throats as the group around us raised their weapons.

"You see, darling," Coozoh began as he stared at Nya. "There are two choices for you and your friends here. The first, and most appealing offer in my opinion, would be to stay here with me and my people and eventually become my beautiful bride." He grinned down at us, a repulsive glee dancing across his features. "Or, you and your friends can die, right here and now." A minute of silence passed as the information sank in.

"WHAT?" I cried. "How in the world do you think you could ever-"

"If I were to stay here, what would happen to my friends?" Nya interrupted, her voice hard. My mouth quickly snapped shut and I turned to stare at her. She avoided my gaze, however, so there was no way for me to know what was going through her mind.

"Nya…" I whispered, not understanding how she could even think about the ridiculous offer.

"Oh, they would be quite safe." He cooed. "They would be free to leave, no harm done to them." I watched as Nya pursed her lips in thought.

"I can see that this will be a difficult decision for you, so I am willing to let you sleep on it in one of our sleeping chambers." Coozoh purred, but by the look on his face, he already seemed to know the answer.

**Sorry about the short chapter, but I thought that this would be a good place to stop. Hope you guys liked it! I know it was sort of slow, but it'll pick up speed pretty soon. I'm going to be changing the rating to T, but not for anything big, just in case. I still won't cuss or write anything gross...**

**Anyways, adios!**


	16. Chapter 16

**Hey guys! Two updates in one day! Can I get a whoop, whoop! Or not, that's okay. I'm pumped for this chapter, and I hope you guys like it!**

(Jay POV)

"How could you even think of a stupid offer like that?" I cried, trying to get Nya to understand that she couldn't agree to marry the sicko. The not so friendly group had escorted us to a rather big room. They had insisted on us washing up and changing. So after an hour of cleaning and changing into some t-shirt and jeans that they had provided, we had finally gotten them to leave. The room wasn't that bad, actually, with walls painted gold and two dark purple beds in the middle. There was a white bathroom which contained a toilet, sink, and bathtub. How they got all of this underground stays a mystery.

Nya shook her head, her hair- which was still a bit damp from her shower- swishing to and fro, keeping her eyes on the floor. She hadn't looked at me since the offer had been brought up. "Jay, think about Lloyd. The world _needs_ him to fight for good. He needs to get out of here." She said, glancing at Lloyd. I looked over to the now clean boy to see him sitting on one of the beds, absently staring off into space.

"But Nya…" I searched my mind to look for any reason that she would listen to. "You can't just leave us. The ninja will be lost without you, all of us! Kai wouldn't know right from left if you weren't there, and we wouldn't be able to train Lloyd if you're gone. You keep us going!"

For the first time since being moved to the room, she looked up into my eyes. My breath caught as I saw the deep pools of brown. An anguish I don't think I could ever understand lay there. Suddenly, the pain was masked and she forced a smile, probably hoping to reassure me. The damage was done, though. I knew she didn't want to leave us as much as we didn't want her to leave.

"Jay," she began, the small smile still adorning her features. "The world just doesn't need me as much as it needs you guys. And the ninja will be fine without me. Kai's a big boy now, he'll be alright." I stared at her for a minute, shocked. Did she really not get how much she held us all together?

"Nya, trust me when I say you are the biggest part of this group." She opened her mouth to argue, but I rested a finger on her lips to stop her words. "And, even if Kai were alright- which I know he wouldn't be- what about me?" I whispered, stepping closer to her.

"W-what about you?" Nya asked, confusion evident in her voice.

"Well, I couldn't last a day without you, especially knowing you were trapped with that creep. Have you seen the way he looks at you?" I cried.

Nya softly shook her head, taking my hand in her own two. "Jay, you'll be fine. You were fine before you knew me and you'll be fine when I'm gone." I cringed at how she said _you'll_ as in 'you will' and not 'you would.' The words made it sound as if she had already made her decision.

"You _can't_ leave me. I wasn't 'fine' before you, Nya. I always knew something was missing, and you're the missing piece. I need you." I finished, wrapping my arms around her and gently bringing her closer to me. She looked up into my eyes, our noses lightly brushing. I shivered as her cool breathe blew across my face.

"Don't make this harder than it already is, Jay." She whispered, averting her eyes to look down at her hands, which were pressed against my chest. I moved my head to stare down at them too, memorizing every detail of her: The way she bit her bottom lip whenever she was nervous or indecisive, like right now, the way her body fit so perfectly against mine. Her hair, black as night but somehow seemed to shine as bright as the day. How her fingers, dainty and small, were capable of bringing a man to his knees with just one, swift punch.

All of these things and more drove me crazy. With every move she made and every word she said, I loved her more and more. How anyone could captivate me as much as she could was beyond me. I glanced quickly up at her, and was surprised to see her staring up at me, her bottom lip still trapped between her perfect teeth. Her eyes were shining with words untold, as I'm sure mine were too.

"Nya," I began, my voice so full of emotion I had a hard time getting it out. "I will be lost without you. If I can't look forward to seeing your gorgeous eyes every morning, or hearing your amazing laugh every day, I have nothing to look forward to. If you're gone, then I will be too. I have never been filled with as much joy in my life then when I met you. You renew that joy every time I see you. So please, for the sake of my sanity and well-being, _don't leave._"

Her eyes were wide with shock and her lips parted, but I interrupted whatever she had to say with my own lips. I heard a small grunt and felt her tense up against me, but I kept kissing her. I had to make her understand. I had to get her to realize that without her, there was no me.

To my utter relief and joy, she relaxed against my arms. Her lips moved against mine, dancing. I felt her hands move up my chest to the back of my neck. I tightened my grip on her waist and brought her even closer to me. "Jay…" she mumbled against my lips, pulling away. "This is wrong. What about getting Lloyd and you out? What about keeping you guys safe? I'm being selfish if I don't stay here. I'm being selfish even being with you guys right now." She broke away from me, and my arms immediately felt cold and empty.

"Nya, you can take care of yourself, I get that now. But you have to understand that _we_ can take care of _ourselves_. We'll find a way to get you out of this."

"I know you guys can take care of yourselves." She replied, a sad smile gracing her features. "I wouldn't be considering staying here if I didn't know you guys could handle anything." I sighed, realizing she wouldn't be swayed. Well, neither would I.

"Nya," I began, the nervousness making my voice shake. I cleared my throat and began again. "Nya, I won't let you stay here. You matter more than you will ever know, and I won't let you leave the ninja to stay with some creep who thinks he has the upper hand." She stared up at me, a surprised expression on her face. I would be surprised too; I don't usually tell people what's gonna happen.

"Ja-" Her voice was cut off as something crashed through what was supposed to be the ceiling to this weird subterranean room. I jumped in the air and immediately moved to cover Nya. She had her hand already wrapped around Lloyd's wrist in an effort to save him from whatever had landed in front of us. I wrapped my arms around both of them and, carefully, my eyes moved up to see what was before us.

My mouth dropped open as I saw a big, red suit standing right underneath the hole on the top of the room. The Samurai X exo-suit stood tall and proud, a small blinking device on the front of it. "Creator found" was all it said on the attached device.

"Jay," Nya murmured in awe as she pointed to the blinking thing. "It's our homing device! That means…"

Suddenly, three figures flipped down to land in front of the red armor; one in white, one in black, and one in red.

**Yay! Another chapter! I know there wasn't any fighting action, but there was some **_**romance**_** action. :p Have our faithful ninja finally found them?! Well, yeah, they just did. I hope you guys liked it! Until next time!**


End file.
